Assessment of Environmental Effects, Kiwirail Regional Freight
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
NOTICE OF REQUIREMENT AND ASSESSMENT OF ENVIRONMENTAL EFFECTS KIWIRAIL REGIONAL FREIGHT HUB PREPARED FOR KIWIRAIL HOLDINGS LIMITED October 2020 This document has been prepared for the benefit of KiwiRail Holdings Limited. No liability is accepted by this company or any employee or sub-consultant of this company with respect to its use by any other person. This disclaimer shall apply notwithstanding that the report may be made available to Palmerston North City Council and other persons for an application for permission or approval to fulfil a legal requirement. QUALITY STATEMENT PROJECT MANAGER PROJECT TECHNICAL LEAD Jon England Karen Bell PREPARED BY Karen Bell and Kylie O'Dwyer 23/10/2020 CHECKED BY Karen Bell and Kylie O'Dwyer 23/10/2020 REVIEWED BY Karen Bell and Kylie O'Dwyer 23/10/2020 APPROVED FOR ISSUE BY Jon England 23/10/2020 AUCKLAND Level 3 Stantec House, 111 Carlton Gore Road, Newmarket, Auckland 1023 PO Box 13-052, Armagh, Christchurch 8141 TEL +64 9 580 4500 REVISION SCHEDULE Signature or Typed Name (documentation on file) Rev Date Description No. Prepared Checked Reviewed Approved by by by by Stantec │ KiwiRail Regional Freight Hub │ October 2020 Status: Final │ Project No.: 310003007 Child No.: 300.200 │ Our ref: Formatted AEE Final 231020.docx Signature or Typed Name (documentation on file) Rev Date Description No. Prepared Checked Reviewed Approved by by by by Stantec │ KiwiRail Regional Freight Hub │ October 2020 Status: Final │ Project No.: 310003007 Child No.: 300.200 │ Our ref: Formatted AEE Final 231020.docx Executive Summary Introduction KiwiRail Holdings Limited (KiwiRail) is seeking to deliver a new Regional Freight Hub (Freight Hub) near Palmerston North and is lodging a Notice of Requirement (NoR) to designate approximately 177.7ha of land (Designation Extent) adjacent to the North Island Main Trunk (NIMT) rail corridor between Bunnythorpe and Palmerston North Airport. Freight Hub site location looking north from the City Palmerston North is in a unique location for the Freight Hub. It has main-line rail freight services transiting North – South and East – West and it is well connected to the state highway system. In addition, the wider Manawatu Region is developing as a key production and distribution centre. Recent government policy and funding has seen a shift in emphasis to rail with provision for improvements that will make moving freight by rail a more efficient and attractive option. Moving more freight by rail will result in a reduction in carbon emissions and improve user safety on the road network. An assessment of the potential for rail freight change was undertaken in 2019. This identified an up to 45% increase in tonnage/business nationally by 2050, with increased container traffic predicted. While train lengths on branch lines including south bound to Wellington are likely to remain restricted to 900m, with increased capacity being managed by increasing train frequency, increased traffic between Auckland/Hamilton and Palmerston North is planned to be accommodated by increasing train lengths by 65% to 1,500m. The existing freight yard in Palmerston North on Tremaine Avenue (Existing Freight Yard) is surrounded by urban development. It is not able to feasibly accommodate the forecasted growth in rail freight because it is not possible to efficiently operate the yard 24 hours a day and 7 days a week, and work with the 1,500 m long freight trains expected to be travelling north. Given the need to also accommodate the Stantec │ KiwiRail Regional Freight Hub │ October 2020 Status: Final │ Project No.: 310003007 Child No.: 300.200 │ Our ref: Formatted AEE Final 231020.docx │ Page i anticipated increase in truck movements accessing Tremaine Avenue, KiwiRail determined that redevelopment of the existing yard was not feasible. KiwiRail therefore obtained funding to look for another location. Freight Hub Site Selection In 2019, KiwiRail developed a master plan for intermodal freight hubs that could be applied to site selection in New Zealand. The master plan was used in Palmerston North to assist in identifying a new location for the Freight Hub. The preferred location was selected following an assessment of alternative locations along the NIMT rail corridor between the Manawatu River (at Longburn) and the Taonui Stream near Fielding. The assessment involved working with stakeholders and a range of independent technical experts (including noise, engineers, transport planners, ecologists, archaeologists) to assess the benefits, impacts and challenges of developing a freight hub in the different locations. Starting with a concept template for a site that was almost 3km long and around 1 km wide, nine locations were assessed using 10 different criteria. Following the review of the nine locations in the long list, three sites located around Bunnythorpe were short listed and a more detailed assessment was undertaken for each site. The preferred site was identified by the technical assessors as being between Bunnythorpe and the Palmerston North Airport on the western side of the North Island Main trunk rail line (NIMT). This location was confirmed by KiwiRail when the location was announced by the Minister on 2 July 2020. The extent of land needed for the Freight Hub has been determined by adapting the Master Plan to address the local environment and rail related constraints. Key considerations in the development of the Freight Hub’s layout was the need to reduce the amount of time freight is in the yard to make rail an attractive alternative mode to moving freight by road, and to ensure that best practice safety and environmental standards are met on the site. This means that the concept layout of the Freight Hub (shown below) has the arrival and departure yard, the marshalling yard, and the container terminal adjacent to each other. Concept plan showing distribution of key activities The facilities identified in the figure above occupy an area of approximately 130 ha. In addition, KiwiRail must ensure that there is good roading access and areas to manage environmental effects such as stormwater generated by the increase in impervious area, noise mitigation and planting for visual amenity. The analysis of the site layout identified that the NIMT could be moved westward from its current alignment which would allow the existing NIMT corridor to be used for noise mitigation and planting as well as addressing issues associated with the existing vertical changes along this section of the corridor. Therefore, the total amount of land reasonably required for the Freight Hub is 177.7 ha. KiwiRail has continued to consult with a range of stakeholders and has communicated with the wider community throughout 2020 using various forms to meet and communicate, given the various Covid -19 alert levels operating through the year. KiwiRail has engaged with iwi groups since the project was initiated in early 2019. The team will continue discussions with iwi to develop ongoing engagement protocols, and to address and mitigate any identified cultural effects, and to nurture potential benefits. Stantec │ KiwiRail Regional Freight Hub │ October 2020 Status: Final │ Project No.: 310003007 Child No.: 300.200 │ Our ref: Formatted AEE Final 231020.docx │ Page ii Notice of Requirement KiwiRail’s objectives in developing a Freight Hub in or near Palmerston North on the NIMT line are to: increase its operational capacity to efficiently accommodate projected regional and national freight growth and support wider regional development. enable rail to be integrated with, and connected to, other transport modes and networks; and improve the resilience of the regional and national freight transport system over time. To secure the land for the Freight Hub and achieve its objectives, KiwiRail is submitting the NoR under the Resource Management Act 1991 (RMA) to Palmerston North City Council (PNCC) to designate the land for this purpose. This is because: a freight hub is not specifically provided for under the PNCC’s district plan’s zone-based controls or the specific provisions for infrastructure. the designation will allow the future use to be shown in the District Plan and provide certainty for the Freight Hub to proceed as the designation process enables the land to be safeguarded from future incompatible industrial and rural-residential development which may hinder or prevent the future work; and the use of a designation enables an appropriate degree of flexibility for a project of this scale. KiwiRail has asked that the NoR is publicly notified. Other Approvals Regional resource consents will be sought at the detailed design stage of the Freight Hub. It is anticipated that regional resource consents will be required for: bulk earthworks discharges from the disturbance of contaminated soil stormwater discharged to existing streams from the stormwater management devices; and stream works including the diversion of existing watercourses and installation of culverts as existing watercourses will need to be piped. It is also anticipated that following completion of a detailed site investigation, resource consent will be required pursuant to the National Environmental Standard for Assessing and Managing Contaminants in Soil to Protect Human Health for the change in use and the volume of land disturbed and a resource consent will likely be required under the National Environmental Standard for Freshwater Management 2020 for works in streams. Given the long history of occupation and development by Maori and Europeans in